S60 gets a better calculator -- thanks to Series 40
Hey, S60 owners, have you had this nagging sense over the past year or two that you're somehow getting slighted by Nokia, but you haven't been able to put your finger on why? No worries, we've figured it out: it's the calculator. Nokia's mainstream dumbphone platform has featured a far better and more capable built-in calculator app than S60 for a while now, which really doesn't make a whole heck of a lot of sense; granted, you can get better ones from third-party developers, but the point is you shouldn't have to. Thankfully, Nokia agrees, and they've started to toy around with the idea of replacing the S60 calc with its little brother's -- a relatively easy process, since the latter is written in Java. On one hand, it'd be a shame to see a core S60 app move from native code to Java, but on the other hand, if it's a better app and the JVM is transparent, who really cares? Anyway, the ported app is chilling in Nokia's Beta Labs as we speak, just waiting for customer feedback before the higher-ups make a judgment call on whether to integrate it into future S60 releases. The power's in your hands, people, so you may as well take advantage.













Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
netnet @ Aug 27th 2008 6:58AM
My job doesn't require a scientific calculator, so these kinds of addition would be pretty useless to me.
zephxiii @ Aug 27th 2008 9:05AM
It isn't about the scientific bits, thats just a bonus. The real issue was the ergonomics of the damn thing. The old was terrible. The new is much better as it uses the # for ".", and the Dpad as a dedicated +, -, X, divide, and =s button, the way it should be. I hated the s60 calculator on my E62, but at least i had dedicated ., +, - and = buttons. I feel sorry for you non qwerty havin' brothas!
Neha @ Aug 27th 2008 7:27AM
This mobile has solved some of my problems, now will think to buy. Thanks for quick info...
Vito @ Aug 27th 2008 1:59PM
Actually, there is a difference between JVM and core apps. Java apps take much longer to load and run a little slower than apps written specifically for Symbian (i.e. .sys and .sysx)
I don't need the scientific calc, so I still use Calcium, although this new app IS a step in the right direction.
Anthony @ Aug 27th 2008 5:21PM
This is so much better than that standard calc. I've been using it for about 2 weeks & using the D pad is just flat superior to the old method. Scientific functions aside, it's just easier for basic math.
Mark M @ Aug 27th 2008 9:00PM
I just installed this app, and its sooo much better than the original Office Calculator.